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banrions's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I NEED EVERYONE I KNOW TO READ THIS BOOK AND TALK TO ME ABOUT IT.
I’m gonna be thinking about this book for fucking weeks. This is such a perfect amalgamation of things specifically designed to HURT ME and draw me into the story which i ducking devoured in like a day and a half. If I had had time, i would have read this in a single setting. I just… I don’t even know what to SAY yet about how I feel about this—I feel fucking everything. I adore Cara as a protagonist, she felt like a punch to the gut, a mirror held up at your worst and most uncomfortable moment, a tight almost painful hug, I just… I love her. I love her. I love her. I loved being inside of her head, I loved seeing her with her sister, with Dell, fighting against Nik Nik and Adra, and walking through the infinite worlds. I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS BECAUSE IT HAS RENDERED ME PRETTY MUCH INCOHERENT.
So, bullet points:
-I fucking LOVE the way they bring in parallel universes to this. It is one of my favorite tropes and concepts to explore and I really love the way it was in this story.
-I shall reiterate, I LOVE CARA AS A PROTAGONIST
-I also fucking LOVE dell, and their relationship
-I also fucking ADORE Esther and the sister relationship with Cara.
-I love the exploration of class and capitalism and the environment that is peppered into this story about world hopping
-I love the prose in this. Several lines hit me like a gut punch, some of them made me groan out loud and then get yelled at by my mother, the single highest praise I can give.
I want to read everything this author ever writes and I want to read this book again about 8 million times.
I’m gonna be thinking about this book for fucking weeks. This is such a perfect amalgamation of things specifically designed to HURT ME and draw me into the story which i ducking devoured in like a day and a half. If I had had time, i would have read this in a single setting. I just… I don’t even know what to SAY yet about how I feel about this—I feel fucking everything. I adore Cara as a protagonist, she felt like a punch to the gut, a mirror held up at your worst and most uncomfortable moment, a tight almost painful hug, I just… I love her. I love her. I love her. I loved being inside of her head, I loved seeing her with her sister, with Dell, fighting against Nik Nik and Adra, and walking through the infinite worlds. I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY ABOUT HOW MUCH I LOVED THIS BECAUSE IT HAS RENDERED ME PRETTY MUCH INCOHERENT.
So, bullet points:
-I fucking LOVE the way they bring in parallel universes to this. It is one of my favorite tropes and concepts to explore and I really love the way it was in this story.
-I shall reiterate, I LOVE CARA AS A PROTAGONIST
-I also fucking LOVE dell, and their relationship
-I also fucking ADORE Esther and the sister relationship with Cara.
-I love the exploration of class and capitalism and the environment that is peppered into this story about world hopping
-I love the prose in this. Several lines hit me like a gut punch, some of them made me groan out loud and then get yelled at by my mother, the single highest praise I can give.
I want to read everything this author ever writes and I want to read this book again about 8 million times.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Murder
Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
taliahsbookshelf's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This. Book. Blew. My. Mind.
The premise, the plot, the characters, all of it fits together in this super intricate way. It's easy to follow but it's not easy to anticipate what's coming next.
I can't pinpoint the exact moment when I was reading that I went "Oh, this is what good writing is," but I can tell you I knew it. The whole time, I was engaged with the plot, I was invested in the characters and their journey, and I was intrigued by all of the challenges. Every time I put it down to take a break or go for a walk or get a snack, I couldn't stop thinking about it. To me, that's a sign of good book. And this? This was definitely a good book.
Although there is some worldbuilding that I felt could have been expanded to make this a duology, Micaiah Johnson crafted a world that feels eerily realistic and having a simple standalone definitely worked out.
While this does contain a romance, it's not the main plot of the book, and only serves to further character development of everyone involved. That being said, though, I was invested in the romance and was rooting for it to work so I'm glad it did . Bonus points: the romance is sapphic and the main character is an unlabeled (in the book) queer woman (most likely bisexual).
I will let you know: This isn't a YA novel. Although it doesn't contain any graphic scenes, the messaging and the divide between good and evil are incredibly subtle, though very power. I think younger readers could pick this up and would absolutely enjoy it, but marketing it as anything other than an adult sci-fi would be disingenuous to Micaiah Johnson's writing.
Favorite quotes:
The premise, the plot, the characters, all of it fits together in this super intricate way. It's easy to follow but it's not easy to anticipate what's coming next.
I can't pinpoint the exact moment when I was reading that I went "Oh, this is what good writing is," but I can tell you I knew it. The whole time, I was engaged with the plot, I was invested in the characters and their journey, and I was intrigued by all of the challenges. Every time I put it down to take a break or go for a walk or get a snack, I couldn't stop thinking about it. To me, that's a sign of good book. And this? This was definitely a good book.
Although there is some worldbuilding that I felt could have been expanded to make this a duology, Micaiah Johnson crafted a world that feels eerily realistic and having a simple standalone definitely worked out.
While this does contain a romance, it's not the main plot of the book, and only serves to further character development of everyone involved. That being said, though, I was invested in the romance and was rooting for it to work
I will let you know: This isn't a YA novel. Although it doesn't contain any graphic scenes, the messaging and the divide between good and evil are incredibly subtle, though very power. I think younger readers could pick this up and would absolutely enjoy it, but marketing it as anything other than an adult sci-fi would be disingenuous to Micaiah Johnson's writing.
Favorite quotes:
"Even worthless things can become valuable once they become rare."(5)
"Death can be senseless, but life never is."(191)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Child death, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Physical abuse
sashadyan's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Physical abuse
Minor: Addiction, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse
opheliabedelia's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Violence, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Sexual violence and Body horror
Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use
glenfleskie's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Gore
Moderate: Addiction, Car accident, Death of parent, and Violence
Minor: Drug abuse
samanthajaye's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Even the twists I expected surprised & delighted me!
Also, I appreciated that the romance was relevant, but not the sole personal motivator.
Also, I appreciated that the romance was relevant, but not the sole personal motivator.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Murder
amz1006's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
“What does it mean to miss the taste of ash on your lips? What does it mean to crave something toxic?”
This book was so interesting, the idea of developing multiverse travel and only being able to travel to worlds like yours, but where you don’t exist.
Cara is a bisexual, black woman whose alternate selves are exceptionally good at dying. She grew up in the wastelands and now has a job traversing universes where’s she’s dead, in the wealthy and walled off Wiley City, but not everything is as it seemed.
This was a good read, but it took me longer than normal to finish and I found the writing wasn’t quite as engaging as I had hope it would be.
This book was so interesting, the idea of developing multiverse travel and only being able to travel to worlds like yours, but where you don’t exist.
Cara is a bisexual, black woman whose alternate selves are exceptionally good at dying. She grew up in the wastelands and now has a job traversing universes where’s she’s dead, in the wealthy and walled off Wiley City, but not everything is as it seemed.
This was a good read, but it took me longer than normal to finish and I found the writing wasn’t quite as engaging as I had hope it would be.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Emotional abuse
alouette's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I've always believed, like all rational people, that my selves are separate. That they- we- exist independently. But sometimes when life is too still, when I lie in bed in the quiet, I can feel it all happening.
it might take me awhile to sort out my feelings about this book in a legible way, so for now here's a quick list:
- worldbuilding was amazingly immersive and confronted issues of poverty, segregation, etc. with a full-on approach as well as going about the multiverse in a way that could be understood without much difficulty
- the characters were super diverse and had a lot of depth, with an exploration of ethics and an examination of their values across different worlds and different situations
- the plot twists were awesome, the plot itself with good pacing
- the main romance as well as other character interactions were brilliant (even if i feel like the big misunderstanding between the main romance couple was a bit silly)
- the author covered some very heavy subjects with a lot of care but also the honesty that such trauma encompasses
- for once i could feel positively about the existentialism in a novel
slightly ambiguous ending was perfect for the type of book this is
make sure to check content warnings before you read this!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Medical content
Minor: Miscarriage and Terminal illness
internationalreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence
alexiswiththefreckles's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Death of parent, Death, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Homophobia